February 10, 1998 Special Presentation

by John R. Harrald, Ph.D.

Director, Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management
George Washington University

What is the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management?

SUMMARY

EIIP Classroom Online Presentation
Wednesday - February 10, 1999 - 12:00 Noon EST

What is the Institute
for
Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management?

Dr. Jack Harrald
Director
George Washington University
Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management

The EIIP Virtual Forum was honored to present Dr. Jack Harrald, Director of The George Washington University Institute for Crisis in the Virtual Classroom to discuss the Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management. Dr. Harrald overviewed the history of the institution and its current unique education and development programs. The Institute has offered graduate courses in crisis and emergency management for the last two years and the University recently approved a crisis and emergency management Masters degree program within the Engineering Management curriculum; a Doctor of Science degree is also offered in this area.

Further dialogue stressed that the objective of the Institute is to improve the disaster, emergency, and crisis management plans, actions, and decisions of government, corporate, and not-for-profit organizations by transforming theory to practice. The Institute believes high quality graduate degree programs are a fundamental step toward increasing the level of professionalism and knowledge in the crisis and emergency management field. Dr. Harrald's presentation also covered the program courses offered and detailed some of the research ongoing at the GWU Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management

JOHN R. HARRALD, Ph.D.
(home page with photo)

Director, Institute for Crisis, Disaster and Risk Management
George Washington University

Dr. John Harrald is the Director of The George Washington University Institute for Crisis, Disaster, and Risk Management and a Professor of Engineering Management in the GWU School of Engineering and Applied Science. He is also the Co Director of the GW/Virginia Tech Center for Disaster Mitigation and Management and Associate Director of the Louisiana State University/George Washington University National Ports and Waterways Institute.

Dr. Harrald has been actively engaged in the fields of maritime safety, emergency management, and crisis management, as a researcher in his academic career and as a practitioner during his prior career as a U.S. Coast Guard officer. He has written and published in the fields of crisis management, management science, risk and vulnerability analysis, and maritime safety.

Dr. Harrald is the co-coordinator of the Corporate Crisis Management Roundtable. He is a founding member, director, and Secretary of The International Emergency Management Society (TIEMS) and is a Director of the Disaster Recovery Institute. Dr. Harrald was the Principle Investigator for recent Maritime Risk studies in Prince William Sound, Alaska, the Port of New Orleans, and Washington State and for Earthquake vulnerability studies funded by the National Science Foundation and the American Red Cross. Funded by NSF quick response grants and Red Cross projects, he studied the response to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, the Loma Prieta Earthquake, Hurricane Hugo, Hurricane Andrew, and the Northridge Earthquake.

Dr. Harrald received his B.S. in Engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy, his M.S. from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he was a Sloan Fellow, and an MBA and Ph.D. from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute.

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